These Days

IV

"Yes I know, yes. Of course. You think I'm a fucking idiot? Alright bye."

The man tossed another cell phone into the large pile that was building up in the corner before he turned back to Camila. "You really are racking up my cell phone bill, aren't you? Lucky for me I have a million phones from different places all at my hands. You see these phones? They are all 'go phones' or what have you. They are preloaded with money, and all pretty shitty models, so no internet on them and they are not attached to any specific wireless carrier. Anyway, once I use one, I break it and toss it over there. Even if the police did try to track it, it would be too late. The phone is already rendered useless, and it's code is registered to a random state or different country... so they won't get too far. I'm not stupid enough to use my real phone or a phone they could track."

She shifted slightly, her eyelids droopy and heavy. The captor's voice could be heard, but Camila wasn't able to make out all the words. Her limbs felt like they weighed a million pounds and moving felt hopeless at this point. Groaning, she was finally able to open her eyes without straining. After doing so, she tried to evaluate her situation. She was...on a couch? Camila eventually felt like she had fallen back into a state of full consciousness as she noticed that she was sitting up with her arms still tied behind, and ankles also still bound. The nylon ropes had done a good one on her skin, leaving deep red indents from all of her struggles.

"Oh, you're finally awake, lucky me. I've been talking to myself for the past hour." The man laughed, taking a seat beside her on the couch. He took a sip from the bottle of beer in his hand. "Quite a night we had there."

Camila blinked, trying to make sense of his words. Quite a night? She couldn't remember anything. What happened last night? Why was her memory so fuzzy? She concentrated hard before realized that her body was aching more than normal. Her back and legs hurt and... somewhere else hurt.

–

"We are sorry Ms. Jauregui, but we are unable to trace that image's original source. It seems that the cellular device it was sent from is no longer in service and we are unable to find the GPS coordinates it was sent from. Also, all of the image cache has been wiped from the file. There is no information about what time it was taken, or on what type of device. It seems that whoever sent this image was trying his or her very best to cover up their tracks."

Lauren sighed, sliding her phone back in her pocket. Feeling even more agitated, she decided to head home for now. There was no use being at the police station when there was nothing to be done to help find Camila.

"Hey girl, any luck today?"

"No Mani, nothing. I even got sent another creepy picture but the police said that they couldn't trace it or anything. This is so crazy. Why are we not getting anywhere? Camila has been gone for eight days now."

"I'm so sorry Lauren. We just gotta pray for the best."

"Ugh, I'm just tired of hearing that over and over again and not getting any results."

–

"Oh, do you not remember what we did last night? All that fun we had together?"

Camila shook her head, looking her body over again as she noticed a few hickeys on her thighs and stomach. She began to dry heave from disgust. The man reached over, patting her back a few times until she stopped and finally caught her breath. She hated depending on this stranger for things but at this point there was no other place to turn.

"Let me show you dear." He got up, grabbing a small camcorder from across the room as he plopped back down next to her, way too close for comfort. "I got it all on tape. Let's see here."

"Shut up and drink."

"I... I don't like..."

"I said, shut the fuck up and drink." The man held Camila's chin, forcing her mouth open as he poured the alcohol down her throat. She gagged and coughed a few times before realizing she would choke to death if she didn't just drink it. She drank the bitter liquid before it was finished and felt even more dizzy than before. The cake had made her feel like she was floating, but now all the alcohol was just fucking with her even more. What the hell was going on?

"That's a good girl. Now let's get you off this chair." He untied her ankles from the legs of the chair, carrying her to a couch in the far end of the room. The couch had gone unnoticed the entire capture.

Once he set Camila down, she realized she had little control over her body. She felt like a pile of dead weight.

"Are you gonna be a good girl?"

"Mmn..." She nodded, not understanding why she was even agreeing or what was going on.

Camila gasped, shaking her head as ahe turned away from the screen. She didn't want to see more. She knew where it was going and it was making her insides twist into knots.

Of course, the moment she turned away the man reached out and pulled her face towards him. "Now now, I want you to watch the whole thing."

"No." She spat out only to be met with a harsh pull to her hair that caused her to whimper.

"What the fuck did I tell you about disagreeing with me? You are lucky I want you alive. Now, watch."

The tears built up in her eyes as she was forced to watch the video, watching the horrendous scene that just didn't seem to end. The tape went on for what felt like an hour, and she felt like she had just died on the inside after watching him abuse and torture her. She had been violated so deeply that she almost wanted to die.

–

A light knock on the door caused Lauren to glance up at Normani walking in cautiously.

"You should really try to go to bed."

She sighed and shook her head, running a hand through her hair. "I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about her. She might be dead, Normani."

"Lauren, stop. You can't think like that."

Just as Lauren was about to respond, her phone buzzed and received a text message from an unknown number.

"tick tock tick tock"